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Leviathos' Story
Leviathos' Story is a collection of five short stories, set immediately after The Hunt for Antidax. They tell of Leviathos' confrontations with Necuas and his first missions working for the Order of Mata Nui. Story Introduction I'm Leviathos. I used to be a Noctian and a Dark Hunter. I tried to destroy Metru Nui, the City of Legends, so I was banished to the Pit by the Order of Mata Nui. I befriended some warlords who thought they could rule the universe, and we were happy when the jail was destroyed and we escaped, but we were all mutated into water-breathers. However, the Order of Mata Nui decided that I would have a chance to redeem myself, so now I am working for the Order to stop the Makuta. This is my life story. :—Leviathos, 1,000 AGC Archosa Mission Leviathos was standing on the beach of Daxia, staring at the ocean. "Nice view," interrupted a voice. Leviathos spun around to see Kevtho standing behind him. "What is it?" said Leviathos. "You have your first mission as an order operative. In fact, it is on my homeland Archosa. Now follow me," said Kevtho. The two walked across Daxia and into a Vehicle Depot. Kevtho walked in and pointed at a vehicle. "That is yours." The words "Aquaeris 7" were carved into the sides. "Cool," said Leviathos, and jumped in. He flew off in the direction of Archosa. ---- The island of Archosa was coming into view. Leviathos instantly saw why he was there; an army of Rahkshi were destroying a Matoran village. "Mata Nui protect me," said Leviathos as he closed in on the island. He jumped off his vehicle and ran to the aid of a Matoran who had picked a fight with a huge group of Rahkshi. What the Karzahni is he doing? thought Leviathos as he fought his way to the Matoran. "Lets go," he said, clearing a path with his elemental powers. "Why should I?" said the Matoran. "Because if you come with me, you live another day." What have gotten myself into? Leviathos wondered. "There," said Leviathos, pointing out his vehicle. He and the Matoran jumped on and it sped away. "I have a plan." "What is it?" asked Zatith. "If we shoot and destroy all the reactors in the power system, it should release a shockwave that would have the same effect as an electromagnetic pulse, and since the Rahkshi are just robotic skeletons being driven by Kraata, this should destroy them." Leviathos went into a power dive, and as soon as they were a couple of feet from the reactor, he shot all of the Cordak missiles, then pulled up. As he had thought, all the Rahkshi were destroyed in the explosion on shutdown. He began flying back to Daxia. Standing over a cliff and watching him fly away was a lone Makuta. He turned to a Visorak and said, "He is powerful. Prep your men. He dies next time we cross him." ---- Leviathos flew over the water and was passing by an island when a explosive blast hit the side of his vehicle. He crashed on the island to see Rahkshi moving towards him and Zatith. They began fighting the Rahkshi, and Leviathos realized that there were not even enough Rahkshi to make a minor raid. What were they there for? The second the last Rahkshi fell, a wall of Rhotuka spinners were flying at him. He threw Zatith out of the way and flew up all the way above the wall, barely missing them. "I'm impressed," said Makuta Necuas. "Under normal circumstances, I would even try to recruit you, but sadly, you are of importance to an enemy of mine, so I will kill you before they can use you for whatever it is that they see in you, Leviathos." The Makuta shot a blast of shadow, knocking out the Matoran. He dove at Leviathos, who dodged. However, the Makuta began throwing plasma at him. This gave Leviathos an idea. He ran into the trees and as the plasma began to follow him. Instead of him, it hit the trees, and a Nuirak flew out with large burns on its sides. It looked at the Makuta in hatred and dove at him with the intent to kill in its eyes as its stinger began to hit the Makuta. His armor began shredding, but he teleported before his antidermis could leak out. Leviathos walked over to the Rahi and began to mount it. Together, he and the Rahi began to fly to Daxia. As Leviathos was flying though the air, he saw a powerful being suspended in the air in front of them. "Greetings, Leviathos," said the being. He took his staff and aimed at Leviathos. "It is your destiny to defeat the Makuta that you pursue, but perhaps not to survive." He shot a beam at Leviathos, and the Noctian was knocked unconscious. ---- When Leviathos opened his eyes, he saw Zatith staring down at him in amazement. He looked down at himself and his armor was completely transformed. "What...happened?" asked Leviathos in a weak voice. "You transformed..." answered the Matoran. Leviathos forced himself into a crouching position. "Where are we?" he asked. "It's hard to tell. After you were hit, the Rahi was frightened and flew off. I tried to calm it down, but it bucked us off. Luckily, we landed on a tree... although the fall really hurt..." answered Zatith. Leviathos finally stood up and stretched. After stretching, he took a moment and thought about what had happened. Why had that being zapped him and told him his future (and probably his death)? His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Zatith being chased by a Nui-Rama. Leviathos shot a high-pressured jet of water at the beast. Instead of killing it, its wound healed, and it flew toward Leviathos. Leviathos attempted to dive under the beast, but the Nui-Rama was just too fast. It picked him up and began to ascend. "Oh, great..." he muttered. Levaithos noticed an infected Kanohi mask on the beast and ripped it off. The Nui-Rama screamed and dropped him. Leviathos thought fast and used his Jungle power to create a soft cushion to land on. "Phew..." he gasped. He looked up to see a figure standing before him. He looked left to see a group of Rahkshi, surrounding Zatith. Leviathos recognized the figure and gasped. It was Necuas. "Hello again. I believe I owe you a lot of pain," said the Makuta. Beams shot out of the Makuta's eyes and flew at Leviathos, knocking him to the ground. Zatith ran to help, but was beaten to the ground by a Rahkshi. The Makuta moved to attack Leviathos. When he used a high-pressured jet of water, the Makuta simply used gravity to make it fall to the ground. A ball of plasma appeared in his hand and he flung it at Leviathos' face. This should have killed him, but the plasma turned around and burned the Makuta. A Toa of Plasma was now running at Necuas. In response, the Makuta used a nova blast to knock them all over. Necuas shot a Tridax Pod at Leviathos and said, "If I cannot kill you today, then perhaps you can serve me tomorrow." He teleported away, along with his Rahkshi. Leviathos sealed the pod shut with plants, only to see some of his inner light be drained into the pod. "They're long-range Shadow Leeches," said the Toa. "Oh great," said Leviathos. He blasted the Pod, and crushed it and its leeches with water. "I'm going back to Daxia." A Cloudy Nynrah Day Leviathos opened his eyes to see a cloudy Nynrah day. The last thing he remembered was crashing his vehicle, the Aquaeris 7, into a pool of energized protodermis, and then blowing up an army of Rahkshi. A Nynrah Ghost stood in front of him. "Well, you saved Nynrah from the Rahkshi, so we got something for you," said the Matoran. "We couldn't help but notice your use of your elements, so we made you thi..." the Matoran's mouth was moving, but no words came out. Leviathos stood up to see what was wrong when he went flying forward to the sound of Makuta Necuas' evil laugh. He turned around to see Necuas' shadow sword flying at him. He threw his spear to deflect. However, his spear snapped in half, and both objects fell to the ground. "Time to die," said Necuas. "Hopefully," he added, as he dropped Leviathos in a pool of energized protodermis. Leviathos saw a disk launcher, and, using vines, he grabbed it and fired at Necuas. The disk froze the Makuta solid, but then the Noctian felt wet and everything went black... ---- Leviathos pulled himself out of the pool. "You're lucky you survived," said a relieved-looking Fe-Matoran. "Necuas took the Kanohi we were going to give to you, so instead we'll give you a prototype weapon, a Nynrah star blaster. It uses power from the Red Star for complete damage." "And we couldn't help notice that your spear broke," cut in another Matoran, "So we put it in a pool of energized protodermis with the sword and got this shadow pulse blade." Leviathos took both weapons, thanked the Matoran, and pulled something that looked like a hoverboard out of the pool. The Aquaeris had apparently been fused with a hoverboard to create a new vehicle. "That's all that's left of the Aquaeris?" said Leviathos, then shrugged, jumped on it, and flew away. A little while along, he saw a Kanohi lying on the ground. He picked it up and saw a note saying, "Just kidding, the Nynrah Ghosts." Leviathos chuckled and rode away. Return to the Pit A Zyglak slammed into a wall. Leviathos turned to Necuas and said, "I almost destroyed Metru Nui, escaped the Pit, and destroyed armies. Did you really think your pathetic Zyglak could stop me?" Leviathos fired from his Star Blaster and struck Necuas, and fired high-pressured water to no effect. "Is that your best?" "No," said Leviathos, shooting him with water and shadow combined, and Necuas blasted Leviathos with shadow in return. However, a staff smacked Leviathos' opponent on the head as a Turaga started attacking the Makuta. Necuas fired his eyebeams and disappeared. "So what brings a Turaga like yourself to the Pit?" asked Leviathos. "Ensuring your arrival in Gekkak-Nui," said the Turaga. "The Order informed me of your arrival on our island, and I felt the need to ensure safety to my people." As he said this, he was not looking at Leviathos, but instead it seemed as though he were looking through him. "This way," said Turaga Kotal. He turned to a rock wall. "This wasn't here. You'll have to tear it down." "Fine," said Leviathos. ---- "Turaga, I have been doing this for hours. The wall will not fall!" said Leviathos. "Keep going," ordered the Turaga. Leviathos' mask began to glow and he inhaled the whole wall. "Whoa! What the Karzahni has that?" said Leviathos. "The Kanohi Killphi, Mask of Vacuum," said Kotal. ---- Leviathos had put up a good fight. Kotal was standing back-to back with him, surrounded by Necuas' advancing army. "I surrender," said Leviathos. The voice of Necuas rang out. "Surrender your weapons to this Exo-Toa, and you will be escorted to a cell in the original pit." He tossed his staff to the Exo-Toa and began walking. At the lead of the group was a Mechanical Rahkshi. He got an idea and charged up his star blaster. He shot some energy at the Mechanical Rahkshi, who fell under his command, and he began destroying the Exo-Toa. Leviathos smashed the cannon arm off, then the one with his staff, then, after reclaiming his weapon, picked up the cannon with his tentacle and attached it to his shoulder before plunging into battle. Necuas teleported away before Leviathos could reach him, and he resumed walking away with Kotal, never noticing a red pair of eyes watching their every move... Nightmare World Leviathos was running through the jungles of Gaakhu-Nui. A Toa of Shadow and a Mechanical Rahkshi were chasing him. This was an island from the Matoran Universe. However, he had seen beings and islands that were not. He ran onto a rocky platform, only to find that it was a cliff. The Mechanical Rahkshi fired a rocket at the stone, sending Leviathos tumbling down the hill. He had sharp pain in his head and his arms and stomach ached. He could see a village and made a beeline for it, with the sound of wings and mechanical feet close behind. After he saw an odd mixture of Matoran and other beings, he realized that he must be in a parallel universe. He asked a Glatorian for a history tablet and read of how two planets merged, making Oceaus Magna; how the Matoran lived peacefully with Glatorian and Agori, but then he dropped the tablet, breaking it, when he heard Mata Nui was dead. He probably would have stood there, staring blankly, for years, if it weren't for the Glatorian saying, "You owe me 40 widgets for that!" How could this happen? thought Leviathos. However, his thoughts where broken by another explosion as the duo he had met earlier attacked Leviathos. He and the other Glatorian managed to destroy the Rahkshi, but volley of six Cordak shots struck them, followed by the maniacal laughter of Necuas. There's no Necuas in this universe! He must have followed me, but... Leviathos had a flashback of destroying the Makuta's armor, sending his antidermis scattering... He was dead... "I thought I killed you," said Leviathos. "You would have if I hadn't found this," replied Necuas. Leviathos turned around to see Necuas' mask on a Maxilos robot. Leviathos picked up a combination of a whip and a blade and ran at Necuas, striking him, but Necuas burnt him severely on his right arm with the fire sword. "You will die!" yelled Leviathos, and the fight was on. Leviathos hit Necuas with his sword and whipped him in the head. Out of nowhere, the Shadow Toa hit him with a blast of shadow and Necuas stabbed Leviathos through the chest. The Noctian stumbled backwards, fell off the cliff, and landed on a carpet. Helryx stood there and said, "This dimension is real, and you protect it and the Agori and Glatorian whom you have just met. A dark power is rising, and they need your help. You must search out Brutaka. He will take you there." "What?" said Leviathos. Than he woke up, drifting through the Pit. He wanted to protect his own universe at the moment, but, following his dream's instructions, he activated a device that all of Helryx's advisors had received as a way to contact Botar and Brutaka. "What is it, you oversized fish?" asked a tired Brutaka, who had been woken up from his sleep. "I have always seen my mutated, water-breathing self as an octopus," countered Leviathos. "In fact..." "Hurry up or I will put you in a dimension where you fall into the sun and burn," said Brutaka. "Look," said Leviathos. "I need you to go to a parallel universe, find me, and put him on Oceaus Magna and make sure I am protecting the planet. That is all I ask." Sea of Shadows "Okay. Let's go," said Leviathos. He and a bunch of Mahri Nui Matoran were going to attack Necuas in his temporary underwater base. As they approached, he heard the sound of a sword and turned around to see Necuas and a giant blue Makuta standing over several dead members of the team. Exo-Toa were tunneling through the rocks. The team was fighting, but they had to fall back. They ran as fast as possible. Kotal's bodyguards were running with him when a rocket hit the seafloor nearby, sending them all flying. The blue Makuta incinerated Kotal with his eyebeams, killing him. Leviathos was in so much shock, he did not notice the rocket head straight for his head until the last second. He barely dodged, but as the debris hit his head, he saw Toa dying around him and felt something slimy wrap around his arms. His eyes closed and he blacked out. ---- Leviathos woke up. He felt the same dizziness that he had felt in his dream. He could remember being freed from the Pit by Helryx and the massacre he just witnessed, but everything in between was hazy. He saw one of Kalmah's squids. He looked straight into its eyes and said, "Go tell Kalmah and the others. I'm back." ---- This was very interesting news for the Barraki indeed. The question was what to do about it. "Are you sure that's him?" asked Mantax. "Yes," said Kalmah. "I know what my squid saw." "So you think he magically disappears, and then somehow comes back to the Pit with an army of Toa?" said Ehlek. "Time to investigate." ---- Leviathos, prisoner of the Pit and member of the Order of Mata Nui, was told that he was going to temporarily lose contact with the Order. "Why?" said Leviathos desperately. "Because you are needed on this mission, and the it is only achievable if you do this," said Helryx. "Why is this the only way?" asked Leviathos. "Because they are your best option for protecting the island," replied Helryx. "Now, why don't you go to the island, Toa Leviathos?" "What the Karzahni are you talking about?" Zardex, who had been silently listening to the whole conversation, shot Leviathos with a beam of energy, knocking him down. Leviathos jumped to his feet and grabbed with a tentacle. However, he realized that it was not connected to his hand anymore, but came from the base of his arm. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of Zardex choking. "What did you do to me, Intellian?" "Let...go..." Leviathos was blasted down by a water pulse from Helryx. Zardex gasped. "You can now pass yourself off as a Toa." "I am still a Noctian, right?" said Leviathos. "Half-Noctian, half-Toa," said Zardex. "What?" said Leviathos. Zardex fell back on the ground. "Thank the new adaptive armor I created." ---- Thrak stood on the cliff beside Branar and Stronius. As they watched the valley below, Thrak hoped the plan would work. He was glad when a strange order lifted into the air, and millions of eyes appeared in the sand. The Bone Hunters approached. The Zesk were ready. As the rock steeds ran by, he noticed Skrall helmets on the Bone Hunters, so that meant Xev had done his job. As planned, a rock suddenly arose and turned into a blur, stabbing one of the Bone Hunters and changing back again, but the creature had been hit by a strange goo. As this repeated, the Skrall smiled among themselves. The plan was working. All the Bone Hunters had either died or run away. Thrak turned to his fellow Skrall. "May the honor be mine?" "Just shoot!" said Stronius, clearly agitated. Thrak picked up his tribal blade and fired an explosive Thornax at a cave wall. When the explosion was heard, Vorox poured out of caves, firing Thornax at what would appear to be ordinary things. Upon the explosions, dead baterra fell to the ground. "The plan worked," said Thrak. However, his celebration was cut short by an odd smell. He turned around and slapped a rock. Sure enough, a baterra staggered backwards, away from him. However, in its rage, it lunged at Thrak with a long sword. Thrak believed he would die, until a golden blur shot through the creature's stomach, making it fall down dead. Behind it stood Stronius, with hatred in his eyes. "Nothing will kill me or my brothers, especially the species that has plagued, hunted, and killed us for years. It will end." To help lighten the mood, Branar said, "We won. We beat the baterra!" "And that makes two for two," added Stronius, calming down. ---- "It is good to be home," said Leviathos, walking through the streets of Noctia, seeing Matoran and his fellow Noctians talking and working and living their lives. He felt an arm wrap around him, which was strange because he could not see one. Then he was being hauled off into a corner, and the shape of Makuta Krakanus came into view. "Is everything going well for you, Leviathos?" he said. Leviathos began to move away, and Krakanus' sword moved closer to Leviathos' throat. "I will kill you," said Krakanus. "No, you won't," said Leviathos. "You were standing behind me, invisible, with a sword in your hand. You could have stabbed me. So you want something from me — or maybe even need something from me." "You think I won't kill you?" said Krakanus, his staff igniting with plasma. "No, I don't..." "You're wrong," said Krakanus, firing the plasma in a blast of flame. It enveloped Leviathos, who ran in another direction, screaming. Krakanus laughed evilly as he walked away. He was almost gone when a few droplets of water hit the back of his neck. He spun around to see Leviathos unharmed, puddles of water on the ground and vines floating in the water, burned. "You can't see vines while you're lighting people on fire?" said Leviathos tauntingly. A large amount of electricity hit him, coursing though his body. Leviathos responded by inhaling a small fragment of the wall and releasing a shockwave, knocking Krakanus to the ground. He felt a mental attack, but it bounced off his shielded mind. However a Cordak blast hit him, knocking him off-balance. Krakanus and Necuas, standing side by side, both fired eyebeams at him. Leviathos used his control over plants to launch himself over them. Krakanus prepared to attack, but started staggering forward as a local toa stood behind him, firing a laser blaster at the Makuta. Leviathos fired his own blast of water at Necuas. The Toa of Plasma had just shot a blast of plasma when it was extinguished by what looked like an icy beam. "Hello, Jetrak," said a Toa of Shadow. The Toa of Plasma turned, leaving Leviathos with his two injured opponents and the Toa against his former brother. "Let's go," said Leviathos to Krakanus. "The Order could find some use for you." ---- The Bone Hunters were coming back. Only three had survived the raid. Xev was horrified while he sipped his Thornax stew. "What where those things?" An old Bone Hunter walked up to him. "They appear to be baterra, old enemies of the Skrall." "Well, we are just lucky to be alive," said Xev, causally tossing aside his bowl. He looked up and saw a bluish glow, and thought of what life would be like on another planet. He knew someone who took people to other planets, and, if the Bone Hunters were ever destroyed, he could leave. Fero was more or less in on his plan. Xev glanced across the campfire to him, and saw that he had begun feeding his rock steed. Little did poor Fero know that he would be left behind on the barren wasteland of Bara Magna. ---- As Krakanus' blast of shadow washed over him, a shock passed through Leviathos, and, for the first time since his creation, thought about what he was. Although he told everyone he was Noctian, and even the Noctians believed him, he was more of an experiment by Mata Nui. After the Makuta had evolved into energy, Mata Nui had looked for a potential replacement, and, noticing Noctians' natural closeness with Rahi, he made a hybrid, by taking what he used to make Noctians and submerging it in the Makuta pool. So now, what was Leviathos? He was a hybrid between Makuta and Noctian, and now he had some Toa in him. His thoughts were broken by a sharp pain in his back as he hit the ground. "What is wrong with you? You aren't even trying to avoid my attacks. Unless... Ah. I know what you're thinking. Trust me, freak, I know your secret. You're one of us." "How did you know?" stammered Leviathos, obviously panicked. "I've known as long as you've been alive. I was researching the Makuta pool the day you were created by Mata Nui. That is why Necuas has been trying to kill you: we could not let a half-Makuta join our enemies. He would quickly learn how to use Makuta powers. Just to prove it, hit me with a blast of shadows." Leviathos did just that, knocking over Krakanus. "Good. Now we know I'm right. Kill him!" Necuas jumped at Leviathos while Krakanus shot his eyebeams, and Leviathos started flying away. In the sky, two rival Toa were fighting. Every time Jetrak fired a beam of plasma, the Toa of Shadow, Shadrus, would stop it with his cyro-claw, and every time Shadrus used a blast of shadow, it would be blocked by a precise laser. Krakanus shot at Leviathos with his black fire claw, but Leviathos deflected it with his weapon in midair. Shadrus, seeing a new opponent approaching, escaped from Jetrak by going headfirst in a dive towards the ground, then flattening out and firing at them from below. The other Makuta followed suit, and soon Jetrak and Leviathos had nothing to do but deflect the attacks. "I think that we could use some of your plasma power," said Leviathos. "Exhausted it," said the Toa. "Toa powers don't recharge very quickly." "I'm half-Makuta," said Leviathos casually, as if it were unimportant. "I could teleport us both away." "Are you in control of that power?" "No," Leviathos admitted. "Well, I suppose we'd end up inside a protodermis wall or in the middle of the ocean if you can't control it. Got any better ideas?" Suddenly, an enormous blast of sound knocked both fighters back. Disoriented, they barely saw the oncoming wave, a combination, Leviathos presumed, of chain lightning, plasma, and shadow. "They're combining their powers!" yelled Jetrak. "Let's hope for the best then," said Leviathos, and, reaching inside his memory for some way to activate his teleportation power, grabbed Jetrak and vanished a second before the wave annihilated the place where they had been standing. ---- Krakanus' heat vision saw the forms of the two beings in the sky vanish. Disgusted, he looked at Shadrus. "What do you, the genius master planner, suggest now?" The two larger Makuta stared at the cowering Shadrus. "Don't worry," said Shadrus. "I expect one of my old contacts may be able to help. He's an assassin. I've worked with him before." "Get this contact of yours, then," growled Krakanus. "But is he one of those mercenary types that will slit our throat as well as the bounty's?" "Quite likely," said Shadrus, sitting down and taking out a strange communication device. "But he is the best, and that's what we want." ---- "Are you sure you want to go through with this? It their destiny, not yours." "Of course I am," said Xev. "Remember, you will never see this planet again." "Which is exactly why I want to leave." "I have work to do." The being teleported away. Xev smiled as he walked back closer to the campfire. This would be his last night roughing it in the Bara Magna desert. ---- Leviathos and Jetrak suddenly appeared on Gekkak-Nui. Normally, it would have been a good place to be; however, the whole island was shaking in an earthquake, but even worse, it was sinking. "Naturally. Just now that we escaped the Makuta, the island starts sinking," said Leviathos, clearly annoyed. Leviathos looked away. "Hey, plasma guy, look at that!" There was a strange glow around Gaakhu-Nui, which they could see from a distance. "What's happening?" said the Toa. "I don't know, but I doubt that island will be there for long." "What do you mean?" said Jetrak. "That!" yelled Leviathos. They saw Gaakhu-Nui move through the water towards Noctia and collide. Gekkak-Nui and all its inhabitants moved through the water and collided with the new, large island. A dimensional gate opened nearby, and out stepped Xev and someone they all recognized as a Great Being. All of a sudden, an enormous gate opened over the islands, and they were all teleported away. They landed smoothly on the surface of Nocxtia Magna. "So this is your project?" said Leviathos to the Great Being. The Bone Hunter had run off. "Indeed," replied the Great Being. "What was the point of this?" questioned Leviathos. "Teridax will soon control everything inside the Matoran Universe. At least some will have to survive, to outlive Teridax, to be free," said the being. "When will we go home?" said a confused Leviathos. "When Teridax falls, when Teridax falls." ---- Fero was trapped in a nightmare. The dreaded Bara Magna sandstorm swirled around him, engulfing him in pitch darkness. Somewhere nearby, Skirmix screamed, and Fero could hear the noise of the Rock Steed's quick footsteps. It was scenting him out, and it would only be a matter of time before he caught up to him. Then we can die together, thought the Bone Hunter as he groped in the blackness for some shelter (not that he expected to find any). Curse Xev for getting us into this. It had all begun when Xev had left the camp six sunrises ago. He had gone without informing anyone, had even left his rock steed at the camp — shocking behavior for a Bone Hunter. After a long period of speculation as to what had happened to him, Fero had confessed his plans to abandon the tribe. As punishment, Nilias had decided, he would leave to search for Xev and would not return until he had been found alive. So here he was — lost in a storm without any sense of direction at all. All he could do was wait until the storm passed. Curse Nilias, too, he decided. A member of the Iron Tribe, not to mention a female, has no business with a Bone Hunter clan. If I ever see her again, I'll wipe that ugly Vorox grin off her face. Skirmix's growls grew nearer. Fero whistled to the beast, and then the growling stopped — but something was wrong. Skirmix whimpered, and judging from the quick padding of his feet against the soft sand, he was running away. Fero swore, then began to blindly follow in the Rock Steed's direction, dodging the merciless sand that was pelting him and the wind that drove it. Then he noticed something that made the nightmare seem almost like a good night roasting Sand Bats over the fire. The roaring sound of the dust storm had suddenly become louder, and now Fero could see why: a sand cyclone had started in the center of the larger storm. If sandstorms were nightmares to all Bara Magna travelers, sand cyclones were a dream about being ripped apart by mad Spikit. They had a bad reputation for leaving no survivors in their devastating paths. One had passed through Tesara once, and the damage it had made was inconceivable. There, at least, there had been shelter. Out in the open desert was another matter. Ignoring the Rock Steed, Fero ran as fast as possible in what he judged was the safest direction to go. Skirmix began to scream, which made Fero pause for a fraction of a second — but then, falling in his direction, came a monstrous red mass. He quickly ran over to inspect it, momentarily ignoring the howl of the wind, but he had not even reached it before he saw the truth: it was only the body. The head and limbs were nowhere in sight, and what was left of the Rock Steed was impaled by shrapnel. He briefly wondered where it had come from, then decided that he didn't want to know. The roaring sound grew louder. Time to go, thought Fero. The Bone Hunter, in a split-second decision, dumped his pack on the sand and began to run as fast as his legs could take him. But all of a sudden, he found himself in a monstrous wave of circling sand: not blowing in one direction as the sandstorms did, but rotating... As the cyclone slowly lifted him into the air, Fero screamed. But the storm's roar drowned out the cry, and no being on Bara Magna ever saw him alive again. ---- Far away, on the distant planet of Gigas Magna, a Toa of Shadow followed one of Water through the undergrowth of a vast jungle. As she sat down to rest, it was clear that the Toa of Shadow was losing patience. He was Nightwatcher, one of the top assassins in the Bounty Hunters' Guild, and very dangerous when he lost patience. "You could tell me where your organization's base is," Nightwatcher hissed. "For two weeks, I have followed you, because you, as prisoner, would be worth just as much to your own organization as to the Gigas Magna Empire." "I'm taking you there," said the Toa of Water coolly. "Brominax will pay you well." Nightwatcher grabbed her, lifted her up, and held her in a chokehold. "Shut up. As I was about to say, I don't think you're worth that much after all." With a fraction of his power, he sent powerful waves of shadow energy pulsing through her body. Shayla convulsed in great spasms, and then lay still. Nightwatcher threw her limp body over his shoulder, behind him. "I don't even care if you're still alive. You are worth nothing to me. I have better things to do." Suddenly his holographic transmitter sounded with the voice of Shadrus. "Nightwatcher, come in." "What is it?" hissed Nightwatcher, picking it up and seeing the projected image of the smaller Toa of Shadow. "I'm busy. Your little Brotherhood of Imbeciles doesn't have another loose Tahtorak, does it? I've dirtied my hands enough for that idiot Teridax." "No, Nightwatcher," said Shadrus. "I have a mission for you." "A bounty?" "A good one. I want him, and I want him alive." Nightwatcher relaxed. "Very good, then. What do you want me to do?" Characters *A Nui-Rama *Jetrak *Two Fe-Matoran *Kotal *Skraaki *Shadrus *Helryx *Botar *Brutaka *Krakanus *Kalmah *Mantax *Ehlek *Zardex *Thrak *Branar *Stronius *Xev *Fero *Nightwatcher *Shayla *Brominax *Various Rahkshi *Various Visorak *Various Zyglak *Various Matoran *Various Agori *Various Glatorian}} Trivia *Kevtho, Zardex, and Archosa are both property of Toa Hydros. *Part of the short story Darkness in the Deep was written by Makuta Kaper. *The second half of Sea of Shadows was written by TheSlicer. Category:Gigas Magna Storyline